Last great meal you cookedA quiche with broad beans, ham and sour cream sprinkled with coarse mustard grains. It was foul.

First crushBrando.

Last book you readFragile Lives by Stephen Westaby.

First great piece of advice you were givenIf you can laugh at yourself you'll never run out of material.

Last time you were starstruckSimon Farnaby at the GFT screening of Mindhorn.

First thing you'd do if you ran the countryGive the job to someone who knew what the fuck they were doing.

Last meal on earthToast and butter and a pint of milky tea.

First song you'll sing at karaoke'Higher and Higher' by Jackie Wilson.

Last time you exploited your position to get somethingI got an upgrade on a flight to New York because my awards ceremony outfit would crush if I couldn't hang it up.

First time you realised you were famousWriters are never very famous. I've got friends who are actors and draw gasps and finger pointing wherever they go. Unless someone says your name it's hard to tell. It looks as if they have indigestion and are trying not to burp.

Last time someone criticised your workThe Long Drop is a true crime novel set in Glasgow so the feedback is incessant: there were no two bedroom flats on that side of the street, she had a limp, that pitch and toss school was a mile away …

First three words your friends would use to describe youGreedy, busy, moany.

Last time you made an impulse buy and regretted itShoes.

First concert you ever attendedElvis Costello at Hammersmith Odeon.

Last time you bought someone flowersLilies for my auntie's birthday.

First object you'd save from your burning homeLaptop.

Last funny thing you saw onlineTrump's tax return.

First jobCafe cook (I couldn't).

Last person you fantasized aboutTrump. It wasn't a sexual fantasy.

First word you spokeMum.

Last crime you committedPavement cycling.

First book you read for a second timeHeart of a Dog by Bulgakov.

Last song at your funeral'Disco Inferno'

First person you'd thank in an awards acceptance speechI tend to blank up there, so anyone in my line of vision.

Last thing you think of before you go to sleep'I'll never get to sleep now'.

First thing you think of when you wake up in the morning'If I get up now I can … '

The popular Scottish crime writer and playwright talks about her work, including her most recent book, The Long Drop, based on the infamous case of Peter Manuel.
Denise Mina's debut novel Garnethill won the CWA John Creasy Dagger for Best First Crime Novel. Her work includes the Garnethill Series, books following…